Hush money to Stormy Daniels: Here’s what we now know
In the landslide of news last week about guilty pleas, immunity deals and criminal convictions, you no doubt heard something astonishing: President Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer said in open court that Trump directed him to pay a pornographic film star quite a bit of money not to tell the world that they had sex.
Other than that, you might be somewhat hazy on the details.
After all, the porn star in question, Stephanie Clifford, whose screen name is Stormy Daniels, is not the only figure from the adults-only section to have made a cameo appearance during Trump’s time in office. (There has also been a onetime Playboy model and a former procuress, the Manhattan Madam.)
Moreover, Trump’s own statements about the arrangement with Clifford — a $130,000 payment given to her by the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen — have, shall we say, evolved over time.
On Tuesday, Cohen’s guilty plea in federal court in Manhattan brought to light new revelations about the payoff — and the efforts to conceal it.
Here’s everything that we now know — and don’t — about Trump’s deal with Clifford.
It all started with a golf tournament and “Shark Week”
Clifford, now 39, first met Trump in July 2006 — four months after his son Barron was born — at American Century Championship, a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
At that point, she was a porn star with more than 60 credits to her name in movies like “Slave to Love” and “The Witches of Breastwick.” She had gone to the event to promote her adult-film company, Wicked Pictures.
According to an interview Clifford gave to In Touch magazine, she and Trump shared a golf-cart ride, after which he asked her to dinner. Dressed for an evening on the town, she said she showed up at Trump’s hotel room where, she claims, the married mogul greeted her from the couch while watching “Shark Week” on TV in his pajamas.
They dined in his room and eventually had sex, she said. (“Textbook generic,” as she put it.)